Worlds Apart
by Moonlight Through the Water
Summary: A connection is forged between two living in connected, but separate worlds. Watch the years pass through a little girl's eyes with the watchful guidance of a dragon. Series told in oneshots and drabbles.
1. Connection

**Hello again. I know I should be working on my other fics (I swear I am, they have not been forgotten!) but I've had this idea for a while now and wanted to try it out. Also there is an important notice at the end of this one that will be a deciding factor if I decide to make this a one-shot or a continuing fic (one of interconnecting oneshots and drabbles).**

**Please enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Worlds Apart<strong>

**Chapter One: Connection**

It was raining the night she found it lying on her windowsill.

Before this, her life consisted of a normalcy that belied her adventures in the Spirit World. Already a week had passed, faster than Chihiro had thought possible. In part because a child's perception moves faster than an adult's, but mostly because she had been so _busy_. There had been furniture to arrange, boxes to unpack, new neighbors to greet, and a house to explore.

Chihiro had become very good at exploring.

That first day—the same day she said goodbye to that world she had just begun to love—her family had arrived at their new home. It was a moderately sized house, perched atop a large hill with the forest that had contained the gateway to the Spirit World behind it, surrounding it loosely on three sides. Inside, the movers had already placed the furniture entrusted to them in the house where they had deemed most appropriate due to their employers' lack of appearance.

Chihiro had immediately begun to investigate her new home. When she had walked into the smallest of the three bedrooms she had immediately known that it was to be hers. The large windows dominated the space, giving a breathtaking view of the forest, making the small girl feel as if she could step out and be surrounded by the foliage. It brought back many memories of the friends she had met in that same forest, albeit in a different part. And so this room became her domain.

Her parents were still perplexed about how they had lost three days to the woods, but her father had finally put his foot down, saying it was no use thinking about it, and proceeded to put the unsettling subject aside. Her mother had acquiesced to his wishes, but Chihiro could tell she was quietly skeptical. Sometimes, she would come across some normal object during the unpacking and arranging of homey touches or the ingredients for dinner and gaze pensively at them for a long, contemplative moment before shaking herself out of it and continuing on with her task.

At those moments Chihiro would waver uncertainly between asking her mother what she was thinking (_remembering_, Chihiro thought in the privacy of her mind), desperately wanting to share with the older woman her adventure. But she always held back, instinctively knowing that her mother wouldn't believe her, not unless she truly remembered her own experience, or if Chihiro had more concrete proof than three days of amnesia and a purple hair band to support her tale.

Said hair band was never far from her person, only truly losing bodily contact for bath time and while she slept. Her mother had noticed, and quietly asked where she had gotten such a pretty hair tie (Yuuko could not remember buying it for her daughter, and was justifiably nervous about such things after almost a week of an eerie sense of déjà vu). Chihiro had simply answered that it was a gift from her friends and said no more. Yuuko accepted this, seeing no reason to believe her daughter, who could never tell a lie without giving herself away. Technically she hadn't, just hadn't mentioned _which_ friends she had meant.

But other than these little occurrences, life in the Ogino household was uneventful.

And so a week passed in this uneventful manner, when on the eighth evening an unforeseen storm blew in.

Chihiro had watched the storm clouds gather early that morning, and when they finally released their burden by early evening she had taken up a position on the window seat in the living room. She watched the play of lightning in the clouds, felt the wind buffeting the house, and heard the thunder thrum through the air.

And when her mother asked her what she was doing there for so long Chihiro answered honestly, '_Watching for dragons'_. But she never saw one.

Even though Chihiro knew that she wouldn't see _him_ so soon in her head, there was a big part of her that had hoped the time for the promise to be fulfilled would come sooner rather than later.

None of her doubted that the promise would be kept.

Eventually the call for dinner came, and soon afterwards was the quiet march to bed, with shorts stops on the way—a hug for her mother, a kiss for her father, and a last trip to the bathroom. That night she fell asleep to the patter of rain on her closed window and her purple hair band secured firmly around her wrist.

Late that night she woke up shivering. At first she was too groggy to figure out why and only curled up tighter in her thin summer blanket, but after a few futile minutes of this her other senses began to wake up and take notice of the other changes in the room.

The air was noticeably damper than before she went to sleep, the pitter-patter of the rain had stopped, and she could hear her curtains flapping slightly in the quiet.

Chihiro raised her head from under the covers suspiciously, but other than the open window—how had it gotten open?—there was nothing wrong with her room. Slipping her toes cautiously onto the cool floor, Chihiro stepped up to the window, meaning to close it again, when a glint of moonlight brought her attention to the object on the windowsill. What she saw made her breath catch.

It was a scale. A white scale as wide as her palm, and egg-shaped like a fish's.

_Could it be?_ Chihiro thought wonderingly, half-scared that she would wake up and it would all have been a dream.

Reaching out a trembling hand, Chihiro picked up the familiar scale. A sharp sting across her finger had her wincing in reflex, but joy surged through her, fierce as a summer storm, because it meant that _this was real_. A bead of blood slid down the scale to the curved underside where it glowed briefly as the red liquid was absorbed into the smooth surface. When the light subsided Chihiro's wide eyes took in the new pale green and pink whorls in the dipped surface.

Chihiro blinked at it. And then there was a new awareness in her mind, like a string connecting her head to somewhere far off into the distance, and a mental tug brought the end into sharp relief in the form of a foreign, ancient mind.

'_Chihiro?'_ she heard from the entity, calling down the connection in a familiar voice.

"_Haku,"_ she breathed out in answer.

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><p><strong>Word count: 1,098<strong>

**Attention Please! I would like to try something out with this fic, and I need any reader's help who would like to offer it. I currently have no direction for this story besides a vague idea of how I want it to end, so I was hoping my readers could help me by giving me one or two word prompts or different phrases for a new chapter each. Any prompt used will be given due credit.**

**If anyone's interested, send me a PM or include it in their review.**

**Thanks for reading, everyone! And I thank all for putting up with my selfishness!**

**~Moonlight Through the Water**


	2. Rejoined

**Hello again! This has been a long time coming, but at least there're two chapters, right?**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: <strong>

"_Haku,"_ Chihiro breathed out in answer.

Chihiro felt relief trickle down the connection/string from Haku's side.

'_Yes,'_ he replied. _'I'm glad it worked.'_

There was a beat of silence before the questions that had been building inside Chihiro all week flooded out. "What's going on? How is everyone? Are Zeniba, Rin, and Kama-jii alright? And Yubaba and Bou? Did you leave the bathhouse? Why can I hear you?" A pause. "Not that I don't _want_ to hear you, it's just-"

'_Chihiro,' _Haku interrupted. She could hear the amusement in his voice. _'Calm down.'_

Taking deep breaths, Chihiro did just that.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly after she had caught her breath.

'_It is fine.'_ Chihiro never knew you could _hear_ someone smile, but she swore she could hear one in Haku's mental voice, even if it was slight. Her embarrassment burned her cheeks, but it didn't stop the little flutter of happiness in her chest that the dragon was smiling and _she_ was the cause. _'In answer to your questions, yes, all of your friends are fine. Rin threatened to cut off my food supply if I didn't keep her updated on you-'_ A curious mix of irritation and exasperation came from him at that admission, _'-and Bou misses his friend. Rin says Kama-jii misses you, too.'_

"I miss them, too," Chihiro murmured.

A soothing strum across the connection had her relaxing away from the negative feelings that line of thought inspired. _'We haven't completely left you, Chihiro. I will pass along any messages you or they give to me.'_

The images that brought, of her friend in his dragon form with a mail bag draped over him with a cap between his antlers, made her giggle and she could feel the satisfaction from him at causing the sound. He let her mirth trickle out for another minute before steering her back to more serious matters.

'_As for your last question, I gave a piece of myself.'_

Haku's slightly ambiguous statement had her bringing her attention back to the object clutched in her hands, noticing for the first time it was warm to the touch.

'_It's a spell, using my blood and yours as the conduit and my scale as a medium to forge a mental pathway between us.'_ Haku finished. _'Now, I think it's time to return to sleep.'_

"But-," Chihiro yawned mid-sentence, making Haku chuckle. _'Go to bed, Chihiro.'_

**Word Count: 400**

**Prompt: Disclosed**

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, and remember, if you have a prompt word or phrase you would like to contribute I would be forever grateful!<strong>

**Questions, comments, concerns, opinions? All are welcome!**


	3. New Behaviors

**Shout out goes to the wonderful Fedski who gave me my first reviewer prompt! Three cheers!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

In the days that followed, their interaction became a game of sorts. The only rule was to never get caught.

As young as she was, Chihiro knew that if anyone found out her life would drastically change again, and not for the better.

And Haku knew—even without knowing about such things as mental hospitals and psychiatric wards—that it was human nature to fear the unknown. He had seen its result countless times before.

His little Chihiro would not be subjected to that.

Always they conversed in places away from prying eyes, the most frequent spots being Chihiro's room and outside close to the forest—never inside it, Yuuko made sure her daughter was always within calling distance from the house. Her mother had become more cautious after the events in the Spirit World.

After the first few days of this behavior, Yuuko began to wonder if the shock of the move might have damaged Chihiro's social skills. Before, her daughter was never happy unless someone was there to talk to or play with, but now she spent all her time alone, never leaving the property to meet their new neighbors' children; and somewhere in the secret corners of her mind she wondered if the change had something to do with those lost three days.

Whenever she tried to urge her little girl to go out and make new friends, Chihiro would find some way to decline, saying that she was fine with the way things were.

Akio was no help. He would tell Yuuko that as long as she didn't start seeing things or hearing voices, everything would be fine. She was probably still sulking about leaving her old friends behind. School would be starting soon and she would go back to normal then.

It didn't feel right, but it was all Yuuko could console herself with.

**Word Count: 309**

**Prompt: "The Game to win all"**

**Prompter: Fedski**

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><p><strong>Questions, comments, concerns, opinions? All are welcome!<strong>


	4. Beginings

**Chapter Four**

Yuko pulled to a stop in front of the multi-level industrial building. "We're here," she called to her fidgeting passenger in the backseat before she unlocked the doors and stepped out.

Chihiro looked at the large building, more than a little fear twisting knots in her gut.

_'Don't worry Chihiro.'_ Haku added in only a slightly serious afterthought, '_It can't be worse than anything you faced in the Spirit Realm.'_

Shewanted to tell him "no", that it could be worse. That this first impression would set the course for her whole school career, never mind that all the other children had likely known each other since diaperhood.

But as she calmed down and thought about it she realized he was also right. The people in that building could only shun her and bully her at worst. She could take that. Yubaba would have enslaved her and turned her into a pig.

Haku's voice interjected into that mental conclusion, _'I'll be with you, Chihiro. You will always have me and all your friends here.'_

It helped. A lot more than she had thought possible. _Thank you_, she thought back to the dragon.

Haku had been coaching Chihiro on sending her thoughts to him silently. It was still pretty hit and miss, but she was getting better. Haku sent the mental equivalent of a smile.

Chihiro so wanted to be able to do that.

A knock on Chihiro's window signaled the end of their interlude. Yuko peered in at her daughter, concerned sympathy in her dark eyes.

After Chihiro stepped out onto the pavement her mother wrapped a comforting arm around her. "It'll be alright, Chi-chan." The childhood nickname comforted Chihiro. "I'm sure you will make lots of friends to help you here."

Nodding, Chihiro took a deep breath, looked up at her mother and said firmly, "Let's go."

**Word Count: 308**

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><p><strong>That took longer than I expected. Sorry! The next update hopefully won't take as long.<strong>

**Questions, Comments, Opinions, Concerns? All are welcome!**

**~Moonlight Through the Water**

**Prompt: Cross**


	5. Friend

**Well, this has been a long time coming. I give you a longer chapter than normal as a gift. I hope all you readers feel it is worth the wait. New readers, I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>The general consensus of Class 1C was that Ogino Chihiro was weird.<p>

There wasn't really any big, blaring reason for this conclusion. In fact, most everyone had their own little theories and encounters with the girl that made this idea true in their collective eyes.

Her teachers noticed that she never quite fit in with the various social cliques in her class.

From her appearance, many had thought she would be a tomboy. And to a certain extent they were right. Chihiro was very good at sports and physical activities, but she lacked the brash outgoingness that the other girls displayed. Instead, she did her activities quickly and efficiently, sitting off in the sidelines when she was finished.

She wasn't a reader, though she was always able to do well in her studies and when she was called upon in class. (This left her teachers baffled, as some of her vocabulary was far beyond her age range.)

Mostly, she just gazed out the window or drew strange creatures in the margins of her notebooks. The staff was forced to conclude that she was one of those children with their heads stuck in the clouds. They were at a loss for what to do with the young Ogino.

Her mother was contacted and the members of the school were convinced that her standoffishness was just due to being moved to a new environment. Yuuko grew more worried as the weeks went on. She began to wonder if something had seriously gone wrong with her daughter. Chihiro was too different, but still somehow the same as she remembered her daughter to be for something not to have happened. It was hard not to pry, but Yuuko also knew that prying was likely to close her daughter off form her, and she just wasn't willing for that to happen. So the concerned mother resolved herself to wait it out.

The students, for their part, didn't quite know what to make of her either.

The boys, though curious, didn't want to show an interest in a girl at this age, past the age of cooties but still convinced that they would lose cool points with their fellow males if they were seen talking to a _girl_.

The girls of the class, however, felt no such inhibitions. They gathered around the girl, asking questions of an increasingly prying nature as only younger children can.

_Some kind of seashell?_ The girls would ask of the necklace hanging by cord on the girl's neck, but Chihiro would only laugh sheepishly.

_Where did you get that pretty hair tie?_ And Chihiro would just answer that a friend had made it as a going away gift. And so on the questions went.

But try as they might, Chihiro would answer their questions politely and was friendly to everyone, but still seemed content to stay on the outskirts of the classroom.

That changed one day about a month into the school year.

Akino Mayumi, a shy girl from class 1C, was playing by herself at the park close to her house. She loved the large sandbox this particular playground had and made many different sand sculptures. She had always loved art like her mother, and ever since she had passed away last year Mayumi –always naturally shy –had become even more withdrawn, making her an easy and favored target of the neighborhood bullies. So on that day when the three older boys had found the young girl, pulling her hair, kicking down her painstakingly crafted sculpture, and pulling mean pranks on her, was a lucky one for Mayumi that the newest girl to the neighborhood was passing by.

"Hey!" a girl's voice shouted from behind Mayumi and her tormenters. "Leave her alone!"

The boys turned to the voice, identical sneers stretching their mouths at the sight of the shorter brown haired girl brandishing a stick. "Are you going to make us, little girl? Why don't you go running back to mommy," the biggest one said.

The girl –who Mayumi recognized as her classmate Ogino Chihiro –screwed up her face even more determinedly and stepped forward, smacking the one who spoke squarely in the nose.

The boy fell back with a cry, blood gushing between the hands he had clasped over his nose. His two buddies started to advance on the new girl, but stopped as an ominous feeling settled over them. Shaking from the pressure the boys could feel but not understand, they turned and ran, their leader scrambling after them, still clutching his nose.

Chihiro let out a breath as the boys fled, lowering her stick and silently thanking her dragon friend for the tips and whatever he had done to make the boys flee (she knew it had to be him somehow, even though she hadn't been able to feel the spiritual pressure he had exerted), and turned to face her gaping classmate.

"Mayumi-chan, right? Are you okay?" she asked, reaching down a hand to help the other girl up.

"Ah-um… yes," Mayumi answered weakly, still staring at Chihiro.

Chihiro smiled at her. "Want to play with me today, Mayumi-chan? I don't know my way around here too well yet."

Mayumi blinked, then smiled shyly at the other girl. Even she knew that this was an unspoken offer of protection and friendship.

Looking at that bright, open smile, Mayumi decided that she would take a chance and slowly peek out of her shell if it meant being friends with this girl. She nodded and said, "I would like to very much, Chihiro-chan."

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><p><strong>Word Count:<strong> 924

**Prompt:** Prank

**Prompter: **naraku-doll

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><p><strong>Please make sure to tell me what you think!<strong>

**Questions commernts, concerns, opinions? All are welcome!**

**~Moonlight Through the Water**


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